Master of Arts in Liberal Studies
Dan Cautis
Dan Cautis
Dan Cautis was employed by Georgetown University between 2006 and 2015 as Associate Vice President at Georgetown University. Within UIS (University Information Services) as Director of IT Infrastructure Operations he was responsible for the university’s Data Centers, Computer Operations, Network Operations, Application Production Services, Change Management and Disaster Recovery.
Currently, within the Georgetown University SCS Liberal Studies Program, he teaches the following courses:
Evolving Paradigms: The Intersection of Science, Philosophy, and Theology Across History.
This course highlights the dynamic evolution of scientific thought, its philosophical foundations, and the crucial interplay with theological perspectives.
Fundamental Concepts of Modern Science - A Historical Review of Key Concepts in Physics and Cosmology and their Interactions with Theology and Philosophy –
Church and Science – A Historical Perspective where he analyzes the complex philosophical and political interaction between the scientific developments and the Catholic Church dogma from the High Middle Ages until the present time.
AI and Transhumanism – Artificial Intelligence: New Developments and Implications on Transhumanism where he teaches about the scientific and philosophical background of state of the art developments in Artificial Intelligence, Transhumanism and Technological Singularity and analyzes the ideas and the lively debates within the “Transhumanist Community” that believes in the applications of these technologies to develop a “posthuman” being with better and longer life and superior intelligence.
Dan has a long and distinguished track record in managing hardware and software complex products design and manufacturing (storage systems, magnetic and optical disk drives, high performance lasers, etc.). Prior to Georgetown he has been a senior executive at companies like Maxtor, Seagate, Maxoptix, Western Digital, Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL) where he led large development teams and developed successful strategic partnerships in China, Japan, Thailand with reputed industry leaders like Mitsubishi Chemical, Pentax, Minebea.
For many decades Dan has taught Curriculum University and Postgraduate Courses in electrical engineering (at Polytechnic University in Bucharest, Romania, University of California at Berkley Extension) and numerous liberal studies courses and seminars in history of sciences and religion-science relationship.
He is the author of three patents, and has published more than ten papers in the field of electrical engineering/control systems. From 1970-1980 he was Professor of Electrical Engineering at Polytechnic University in Bucharest, Romania, where he received his Master of Science degree in electrical engineering. He recently published the book Philosophical and Theological Roots of Modern Science (Editura ARCB 2023) that is intended to be used as a textbook for the students in his classes. This book is particularly relevant for students in history of science, philosophy, religion, and social sciences but it may prove equally informative for any reader interested in how the modern science came into being.
He also continues teaching courses in computer science (Machine Learning, Causality and Bayesian Networks, Embodied AI – A New Paradigm in Artificial Intelligence)
His main interests beyond teaching are in the ongoing debates about the scientific-religious interpretations of the fabric of the universe in light of the newest quantum mechanics and cosmological discoveries and theories (Big Bang and inflationary cosmology, multiverses, standard model and string theory); he is also interested in exploring scenarios about the future of human race given accelerated scientific and technological developments produced by the predicted Technological Singularity and the rapid advances in the availability of new computer technology leading to Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and analyzing the claims that Artificial Super Intelligence (ASI) can be obtained.